I have a recurring problem. After a few weeks GPSD simply stops working.
The only way I can ever cure that is to replace the entire operating system from scratch - reformat the drive and start again.
Must I ditch Linux or is there a (permanent) solution?
I'm crossing the Pacific soon - but not with this situation!
Andrew Green

We have just finished (last week) a trans-pacific crossing ourselves and it is as big looking at it from this end as it was looking at it from the other end. Awesomely huge on the charts and globe; rather daunting when your imagination sails over the horizon ahead of you.

The only way I could get my mind around it was to break it up in smaller chunks and as my father use to say, "take another bite of the apple". I use to hate that expression; however, 'chunking' is an excellent way to troubleshoot and problem solve. Sometimes for me I would only sail to the horizon and repeat and repeat and repeat....and we hand steered all but 3 days; 4 hours on, 4 off.

Let's assess the situation; define the problem; isolate and define possible or probable causes of the problem; rank them; methodically go through the options.

It sounds like you stop receiving GPS data at some point. Why?...we don't know yet.

What sort of machine are you running? ...age, brand, model.

Are you running Navigatrix as a "LiveCD", or as a hard drive installation?

If it's a LiveCD what type of stick is it?

Have you done any modification to the system?

What type of GPS are you using?

What is the interface with the machine? USB? serial? USB to serial converter?

Are the connectors corroded? ...loose?

You state that "after a few weeks [it] simply stops working"; is this continuous or intermittent use?

Is there any consistency to the failure; ....just opened/closed "X" program; just moved the machine/the chair?

Are you loosing GPS data systemically, or in only one or a few applications?

Are there any other functions that simply stop working?

Aside from reformatting and re-instillation what other remedial methods have you tried?

As with most things; if you completely define the problem you will have completely mapped the solution. It's a game of horseshoes; the closer you get the better.

Take a deep breath and tell me what's going on.

Hi!
Thanks for the response! Its very comforting to have that kind of response!

I'm using a new Hulet Packard Pavilion G6. with 32 bit Linux 12.04 installed.
Until last night OpenCPN was on the hard drive.
It was standard and "Untweaked"

The typical cycle is this: First it refuses to communicate with the GPS. Next, the OpenCPN application itself starts to degrade: the control panel won't show - all you get is a rectangular white strip.

Next, other applications are affected. Eventually the operating system itself ceases to function and one has to reformat the hard drive and start again.

I have another app called Foxtrot GPS that uses GPSD. It too stopped working until I deleted OpenCPN from my disk. It is now functioning fine. I thus incline to the view that the problem is not with GPSD as I first supposed, but with OPenCPN itself.

I have deleted it from my hard drive to stop further degredation of the operating system.

I'm using CM95 charts and in my fevered imagination I'm wondering if these are infected with some form of virus.

I like OpenCPN - and I've learned how to use it - but I'm now thoroughly frightened of it. I'm trying to download PolarCOM - but that is a tarball file. I have spent two days trying to work out how to install from a tarball - and got nowhere. WHY do the linux community make simple things so complicated?

I'm about ready to throw the whole mess into the pacific. I got out my sextant last night and re-read the procedures. They have a spiritually clean simplicity - a complete absence of all this electronic nonsense!

Once again, thank you for your response. I'm apprehensive about the Pacific as it is - without all this!

Regards,

Andrew.

My GPS is a round flat disc - the one described in OPenCPN's

I have re-read your reply, and have the following further information to add.

1. The GPS connects to the laptop via UBS.

2. The use of the system is intermittent. I don't have the battery power to leave the laptop on 24/7.

3. The degradation of OpenCPN always follows exactly the same sequence: first, it stops communicating with the GPS. Second, you lose the control panel. Third, OpenCpn refuses to quit - you have to restart the computer to get rid of it.

4. At this stage (in this cycle) I deleted it (and its icon in the download file and reloaded from scratch from the internet. This had no effect whatever. The "new" OpenCPN opened for the first time with exactly the same level of degredation and corruption as the version I had deleted.

5. This is the "point of no return". If I delay any longer so much damage will be done to everything else that I will simply have to reformat the drive and start again.

6. It is, perhaps, worth mentioning that I had Linux and OpenCPN on my drive functioning normally. I then downloaded the Navigatrix file with the intention of burning it onto a startup disc. At that point all the trouble started. (I have now deleted that file also. I had nothing to do with OPenCPN on the hard drive when I reloaded and was met with the same level of degradation.

I live on my boat. I have to take the computer ashore to a coffee shop with WIFI every day - about a mile. Often there is a severe chop. The computer is in a waterproof bag. I'm not!
Typically it takes nearly two weeks 8/7 for me to recover to the point where I had left off. I no longer have that kind of time available to play with computers unless I put off my departure for another season.

The principal problem with Linux is that it assumes a level of computer literacy that - in the real world - exists well inside the one percentile level only. To ordinary people the perception of Linux is not as is put out on the Ubuntu website: to us it is a game played by gurus. It is characterised by a multitude of incomprehensible applications that simply don't work!

I'd like to use OpenCPN. However, for someone about to cross an ocean it is physically dangerous. One of the "downsides" of the manner in which it was produced is that you cannot contact the manufacturer's Technical Department and get a simple answer to your problem. One has to research it oneself - and I am just not intellectually equipped to do that!

There is a simple, reliable solution to your problem.

Download and install Navigatrix

Don't mess with Ubuntu Desktop for anything other than Desktop....with a good reliable internet connection. Ubuntu has done a lot to popularize Linux. But off the shelf it is not that well suited, or friendly, to folks who float.

In the Linux world there are many many different configurations-types-styles-flavours that use the Linux kernel (software engine that drive different applications and interfaces). These different "flavours" are called "distributions"

There are popular distributions. There are boutique distributions. There are bleeding edge distributions. There are distributions configured for particular predilections or uses.

If you really want to be overwhelmed with choice take a look at DistroWatch. It's like walking into a cramped Chinese herb market filled to the rafters with boxes and jars of 'stuff' in a foreign language.

Navigatrix is a distribution geared, assembled, and configured for people who float...for people who sail across the Pacific; set at anchor off somewhere; or load up their computer, walk 2ks to a internet café to send/receive emails and get the latest weather and news.

The Navigatrix distribution is pre-configured with a set of software tools that work out of the box. It's pre-configured for energy efficiency and ease of use. It's not flashy. It's stable. It is extremely stable. (A couple of applications can't rub their belly and pat their head at the same time and will crash if pushed, but it is trivial....occasionally irritating, but trivial.) The core of essential navigation and communication tools, however, is extremely stable.

Frequently the latest and greatest version of a particular application is release as stable. Two months later a bug is found...a month later a new-improved version is released...but doesn't play well with the other children, or the other children don't play with it. If that release is an entire operating system the problems will drive you mad. It's like an ecosystem where changes in one place may alter the viability of another.

Navigatrix follows a best practice policy. It might not have the latest version of a particular application, or mouth watering eye-candy, but what it does have works and, more importantly, works in the system with other applications and across a wide variety of hardware out of the box.

It also contains a Library of information you may find useful.

Take a look at it. Try it.

Another Navigatrix user, who just arrived in New Zealand with his young family after their trans-pacific crossing, has just shown me a rough draft of some introductory documentation. It's very good and should be online "soon".

Regardless if you can wait or not, if you decide to use Navigatrix and have any problems ( you shouldn't ), or questions ( you might ) someone in this Support Forum will help you try to sort it out.

Now, in regards to sailing across the Pacific. The risk and danger ranks somewhere between the "driving to the airport" and "flying in a commercial jet".

While sailing across the Pacific is not as safe as flying commercial....it's statistically safer than diving to the airport to catch the plane.

Use your head, and sail by conditions and not a schedule and chances are you will have an enjoyable passage that doesn't make international news.

Thank you.

I will do so and keep you posted. Am I permitted to give you my Email on this site?
Andrew.

Moe I struck a similar problem as this poster has experienced when I put too many maps in the (provided) charts folder. Either that or 2 charts of the same name but different versions?
I've decided now to just leave the charts on DVD & let Navigatrix grab them from there.
I intended just placing "area7" on the USB stick but there are a lot of them.
I also found I have to unplug my XP drive when booting off the USB stick ......... well I don't have to but it isn't visable from Navigatrix to retrieve maps from anyway.
As for him going to the cafe......... aren't these 3G/4G sticks wonderful?

Too many charts should just slow it down....I don't know. I've used the CM93 (1.2GBs); the Kiwi charts (~450Mbs); and a 40-60MBs handcrafted charts simultaneously without any perceived problem.

I am running on the hard drive however.

I'll try to confuse it and see what happens.

But your external HD should auto mount and pop up in the file manager.

I'm on mouse (gotta have a mouse, the touchpad and I don't do well together) and dinghy repair so I'll get back to you and let's see if that can be straightened out....guess I need the dinghy too.

Bruce, the external hard drive is recognized and auto-mounted through a hotplug system.

If it is already plugged in it can still be mounted, but for most purposes it's just easier to hotplug it.

I still can't get OpenCPN to spit up...can you tell me what it's doing and how you got there?

Hi! Ratel is back.
I bought a flash drive upon which to install Navigatrix as per recomendation.
Linux's latest surprise is that it won't recognise a flash drive!
Any suggestions?

That's curious. How did you put Ubuntu on your machine?

I'll make the assumption that the USB is recognised in Windows...

Did you use the Windows installer to create the bootable stick?

Was it successful?

What happens when you then try to boot from that USB?

Does your machine boot to the hard drive? Or....?

If it does go straight to the hard drive I'd pre-emptively refer you to http://navigatrix.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7 (changing your BIOS to boot from a USB).

Done once you don't have to do it again...and it is more intimidating than difficult.

Hi Guys!

Ratel again!
After about an hour in the USB port the flash stick started working. I don't know why, but it has kept on!

Next Two Problems
1. How do I install Navigatrix? I have it downloaded in my "downloads" folder on the Hard Drive and I've copied it onto the memory stick.
Ubuntu Software Centre, however, does not "see" it.
Despite several attempts I can make neither head nor tail of Synaptic.

2. How do I install from a Tar file?

Regards,

Ratel

Since you're experiencing problems, the first thing you should do is see if you have an uncorrupted file to begin with.....

You are using Ubuntu; correct?

Open the terminal and enter:

md5sum /home/$USER/Downloads/navigatrix.iso ....or where ever the file is located.

I keep all my ISOs in another directory called ISO.



The number that it spits back is a checksum. Compare it to the md5 number that is on http://navigatrix.net/download.php....it's the same number the md5sum command returned.

This means that the file I have is an uncorrupted version of the file that I intended to download.

They must match.

Secondly, most people (about 2/3) come over from MSWindows and use the Windows Installer (found on the same Download page) to make the USB device.

For those other people who create Navigatrix on a USB/SD/DVD using different systems there are many many different options as easy or as difficult as you want to make them....or as they are made for you.

By far the easiest, aside from the Windows Installer, is to use a Startup Disk Creator.

Since you are using Ubuntu; open synaptic and search for usb-creator-gtk (or usb-creator-kde, if you are using KDE).

Click it to install, if it is not already installed. It will inform you that it also needs usb-creator-common package. Install.

Locate the application in the menu and the ISO through the application and create the bootable USB with the Navigatrix system on it.

People have reported problems using UNetbootin. There has been a lot of chatter in the bootloader community. It's best to stay out of it, and stay away from trying to use UNetbootin with anything other than a Ubuntu product. It will only lead to heartache and pain.

You will never find Navigatrix in the Ubuntu Software Center. It is not an application that runs in Ubuntu. It is another distribution of Linux amidst hundreds and hundreds of distributions that run independently from each other. They range from popular and prevalent to singularly unique and known only to its creator.

Let me know how it goes....

Hi!
Thanks for your patience.
I got this reply:
bash: md5sum/home/andrew/Downloads/navigatrix.iso: No such file or directory
andrew@andrew-HP-Pavilion-g6-Notebook-PC:~$
I don't know what it means!
The icon from what I downloaded is called navigatrix(4)iso. Its in my downloads file. It has no number.
Regards,
Ratel

This means you need a <space> after the command md5sum and the location of the file.

I'm not the best typist in the world, and less suited for proofreading....so sometime I'm just confounded when something doesn't work because it's a typo I've overlooked...or continue to overlook.

This file is the fifth navigatrix.iso you have downloaded to this directory, or the fifth attempt with 4 other whole or partial files called navigatrix(something).iso in the directory.

Your download manager automagically renames these files, or attempts in sequence.

The first time you downloaded, or tried with a partial, the files was called navigatrix.iso. The second attempt became navigatrix(1).iso; and so on.

The computer doesn't mind. It doesn't care what anything is called...it can't tolerate two files having the exact same name, or unless it is told to look for a file and that file is named something else...but other than that it doesn't care.

Thurston Howell III is not the same person that Thurston Howell II is...nor is Gilligan dressed as Mr. Howell, while fooling Lovey, the real one.

So too with navigatrix(4).iso and navigatrix.iso. It appears they might be the same. They could in fact contain the same data, but it is not the same file.

In the computer world it would be a handled as a different file. It might be an exact copy, bit for bit; or one might be a mere shadow of the other. But they are different....at least in name if not content.

This is the purpose of md5sum. It will tell you if you are dealing with a full and complete copy of the file, or a mutant aberration.

If your file manager shows you have more that one navigatrix ISO and they are all around 1.3GB. Delete the obvious mutants (those not around 1.3GB) and check them all with a wildcard (*)....

It will go through the directory and calculate the checksum for all files the start with the letters navigatrix and end with the letters .iso
for example,

The checksum of the original is: 1ffb7ab0ea86ad334262290d68484612
therefore, the file navigatrix(1).iso is an exact copy of the original. The others are different either intentionally or because they are broken.

Unless you have a specific reason for keeping the other files, it is best to delete them to avoid confusion and having to repeat this step....while it is heaps of fun, it can take a while with large files.

After the directory has been cleaned up. I think it is also a good idea to rename the file to what it was originally suppose to be.

Try that, and see how it goes.

HI There!

Ratel again!

I've done that.

I followed your previous instructions and I now have a flash drive with 6 gigs on it. At the end of the process it told me that I could now boot any computer off the flash drive . . . but . . !

It does not boot the computer and navigatrix won't run.

How:-

do I boot off this flash disc; and

run navigatrix?

The icon for navigatrix is the one that appeared in the download file when I downloaded it off the internet. It is 1.3 gigs.

It seems clear that navigatrix STILL has not loaded!

Is this thing ever going to work? I want to go accross the Pacific. I don't have time for much more of this!

Regards,

Ratel.

Ok,..you ran the checksum on the file to make sure it was not corrupted in the download.

You set your BIOS to boot from a USB device as the First Boot Option.

What was the process by which you put Navigatrix on the USB?

[ Now I noticed you used the term flash disk. Is this a USB stick, or a flat memory card that looks like a large postage stamp?

Some machines cannot boot from the memory cards. They are just not hard wired up for the job. I just want to be clear. ]

It is very odd that you would have a USB with 6GB on it.

For example, this is a 4GB USB with Navigatrix installed without the persistence media or any charts:


As you see this is 1.3GB.

If I add persistence so any configurations will carry over from one session to the next it is:
...it's now 1.9GB. This is the default installation using the Windows Installer. The former figure (1.3GB) is a typical Linux derived installation.

On an unadulterated USB installation, regardless of the size of the USB (4;8;16;32GB) it will come out to be less than 2GB. The additional space is to be used for charts and pictures, music, videos, etc...

This is the same USB with charts for the entire world, and doubling up with the complete set of Kiwi charts of the Pacific and New Zealand.
I found this information via the command df -h...and, as you see there's not much room left to swing a cat, but it is all under 4GBs.

Most frequently malfunctions are simple oversight, thinking too hard, or tying to be smarter than the machine. We can walk through this process and get you on track.

...additionally, we didn't leave Panama until the end of May. The weather was good the entire way...with two refreshingly cool months in the Galapagos. However, the boat did spend a cyclone season in the Tuamotus to avoid bad weather But I can't think of a better place to pass the time.

I am a complete novice when you talk about anything other than Windows but I got this program working very easily once I did what I was instructed to.
Ratel may I suggest if you have limited time to experiment and work out the geeks way of doing things that you fire up a Windows machine (local library if you have to!), download the two files on the download page, plug in you empty USB stick (4 gig is good), Click on the smaller 'install' program and follow the instructions. Wait till completely finished. You can use it like that but it will have no maps.
So....... upload your desired maps for your journey into the correct folder inside the "charts" folder on the USB stick.
That stick now has everything on it you need.
You don't need linux or Windows or anything else elsewhere.
Now go find a computer or laptop & just for the fun of it take the existing hard drive out of it. Plug in your GPS. Plug in the USB stick & press the button to start the computer. It most likely will just boot up. Away you go.
If it did not start you'll need to tell us what computer it is so we can tell you how to configure the BIOS to look for your USB stick.
Sorry if I come across a bit 'rough' but I've condensed the info & just given direct directions.

Hi,
This is Ratel!

Let me deal with one at a time (As the hangman said!). I think we might be getting close. I'm grateful to the reader for the windows option and will keep it in reserve. However, what little Computer literacy I posess was gained using Apple Macs for 30 years - ever since the days they sold out of a garage!. If I now start on Windows, I'll really get myself into a bugger's muddle!

I'm using a memory stick. I apologise for my loose terminology. It plugs into the USB port.

I downloded navigatrix from the internet. It took several attempts before I got it done properly - hence the fact that it is "model" No. 4. It arrived as an icon in my download folder.

I tried to get Software Centre to recognise Navigatrix but it will not.

I then tried fiddling with Synaptic, but was very cautious as I didn't want to cause unintended damage. I read the instructions for Synaptic and failed to understand them. I got nowhere.

I then copied the icon in my downloads folder onto the memory stick. I did that in the hope that in the process of creating a bootable "disk" the process might install it. (No such luck!).

I then followed your instructions as to the creation of a bootable disk (memory stick). They worked like a charm. The program recognised the memory stick immediately and it did its thing. At the end of the process it told me that I could now use the memory stick to boot any computer. (It was not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!).

As I said in my previous post, it will neither boot the computer nor will it run navigatrix.

I checked the navigatrix icon which I copied across to the memory stick. It is 1.3 gigs and appears complete and undamaged. (Ichecked in "properties"). That icon is still on the memory stick - waiting in vain to be installed!.

When I bought the memory stick it had stuff on it. I left it there. Then I added the 1.3 gigs of downloaded navigatrix. Then I applied the "bootable disk" creator. At the end of all that, the memory stick contained 6 gigs! It is an 8 gig stick, so there are approx 2 gigs left.

It occurs to me that when attempting to boot a computer off the Memory stick you might have to tell it whether to boot off the stick or off its own hard drive. How do you do that?

I am stll left with the apparently insuperable problem of installing Navigatrix. I may be stupid, but for the life of me I cannot understand why anyone would go to the trouble of writing a program like that without also bundling an instalation program with it. For the average simple sailor the present level of complexity is just unacceptable. I know these instalation programs can be produced. Unless I much misunderstand the situation, every apple program has one. What persuades the public to buy much overpriced Apples is the fact that their software WORKS - it works first time, every time!

I know that Linux is probably simple once you understand it - but getting to understand it is the trick!

Once again, thank you for all the help! Please don't abandon me now! Lets get this thing working!

Grateful thanks,

Ratel.

I'm trying to figure out what did not happen properly.

When you use the Startup Disk Creator that I recommended it should...it will erase all the data that is on the stick.

If you use netbootin it will do the same, but netbootin installs it's own boot configuration file...not the one created by the Navigatrix people. It will work...I just tried it. But it should not be the first option.

With an 8GB USB you will have about 6GB of space remaining when the USB is ready to put your data on it.

If you have substantially less space than that we need to figure out what happened.

On a virgin Startup Disk Creator created USB device you should see these files and directories...and only these.


The Windows Installer creates another file called home-rw which is a good and should be created anyway....but we'll get to that later.

Unetbootin creates these files:

Don't get me started about how they mess things up...but, like I said, the bootloader works, just not the way the Navigatrix...or other non-*buntu developers, intended.

When you look at the stick through a file manager thees are the only files you should see at the base of the filesystem....clearly if you go into directories you will see additional files and directories. But at the base....this is it.

If you have a valid checksum and these files/directories then you have a bootable USB stick.

After successfully creating a bootable USB stick...stick it in to your computer and turn on the machine.

For the first time...and one time only, you will need to change the default setting of your BIOS....that's the little program that every computer has to begin the process of booting up.

It tells the machine to look in some pre-set location for the instructions on how to boot up. The default setting most likely doesn't indicate that it should look at a USB device sticking out the side. Your job is to instruct the machine where to look.

There is a post in the forum that covers this:

http://navigatrix.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7

Arguably not very well, or in details specific to every machine, but it should be enough to get the job done.

If it is not than there are other resources:
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/ht/bootusbflash.htm
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16822/boot-from-a-usb-drive-even-if-your-bios-wont-let-you/
http://www.portlock.com/support/knowledge_base/boot_from_usb_device.aspx

...let me know how it goes.